Howard County NAACP Calls For School Staff To Be Charged After Video Of Black Student Being Punched Surfaces
The Howard County, Maryland NAACP, African American Community Roundtable and Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County on Thursday (December 16) said the Howard High School staff involved in a video of a restrained Black student who was allegedly punched in the head should be fired and criminally charged.
Baltimore station WJZ reports that the civil rights organizations called for a thorough investigation earlier this month into the “very disturbing” incident, which was captured on cellphone video.
Howard County Police say three staff members stepped in after a student allegedly assaulted several schoolmates in the cafeteria. Authorities confirmed one of the security officers in the video is a former police officer who is now under investigation for his actions.
The NAACP says the vice principal and a school resource officer had the student pinned and under control when a security assistant began punching the student in the head. The security assistant is currently on paid leave and the student was later disciplined.
“At no point did the SRO intervene to stop the security assistant,” NAACP representative Candace Jaimes said, according to WJZ. “Nor did the assistant principal who was positioned almost touching shoulders with the security assistant stop to intervene after the first punch. The assistant principal just continued to restrain the student.”
Under Howard County School Code corporal punishment is forbidden but when a fight occurs, “staff may use no more force than the degree that is reasonably necessary to prevent violence and restore order, protect him or herself and the students involved in the fight or struggle and any persons that are in the vicinity of the confrontation,” Jaimes says.
“The security assistant assaulted the student with the amount of force that is intended to cause serious bodily harm while the SRO and assistant principals stood by and watched,” she added. “Therefore it is the position of the NAACP that the staff that were involved in that incident should be fired and charged criminally.”
Barbara Peart, of the Council of Elders, said incidents involving violence against students in the area are more common as many may want to believe.
“It would be tempting for us from our little cocoon in Howard County to treat this as an aberration, to comfort ourselves by saying this rarely happens,” she said. “But the truth is, and we know this, that for every incident that is recorded and reported. there are incidences that are not reported and did not record and so we have to take this seriously.”
The groups are also recommending that Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano review training procedures and hiring practices for school employees to make sure they’re safe to engage students.
